The present invention relates generally to a system and method for ordering material, and more specifically, to a system and method for ordering material in response to demand for the material in a process.
The process of manufacturing a product presents many challenges to bring the product to market for the least cost and within schedule, while maintaining product quality. Manufacturing the product for the least cost is important in all industries. Inventory is one of the primary costs associated with manufacturing a product.
In traditional assembly line operations, a central storage location is used to store material or parts until they are needed. When the parts are needed on the assembly line from the central storage location, the parts are delivered to an assembly line storage location from the central storage location. At the appropriate time a part is taken from the assembly line storage location and then used on the assembly line. The assembly line storage locations are supplied by replenishing inventory from the central storage location, when the supply at the assembly line storage location drops below a threshold. For example, once the parts at the assembly line storage location drops below the threshold, another lot of parts is delivered to the assembly line storage from the central storage location. In addition, once the number of parts in the central storage location is reduced below a threshold, a number of additional parts are ordered from the supplier.
However, typically the replenishing of the assembly line storage location or the central storage location are based on forecasting or other types of inventory filling techniques based on prior usage. For example, the supplier of a part could be instructed to deliver X number of parts every Y months. These techniques require maintaining and tracking a large inventory of the parts.
Furthermore, forecasting methods by their very nature of being a prediction, are not 100% accurate. The accuracy of forecasting methods are may be further reduced when the product being assembled is highly configurable. In other words, the product being assembled are different types or configurations and the parts needed for each product may be different.
The present invention is aimed at one or more of the problems set forth above.
In a first aspect of the present invention, a method of managing material supplied to an assembly process is provided. The method includes the steps of establishing an actual demand for the material, generating a replenishment signal, and supplying the material in response to the replenishment signal.
In a second aspect of the present invention, a method of managing material supplied to an assembly process is provided. The assembly process produces a plurality of items and is divided into a plurality of stages. Each item is represented by an order. The method includes the steps of monitoring a stage of at least one of the orders, establishing an event in the assembly process in response to actual demand for the material, and generating a replenishment signal in response to occurrence of the event.
In a third aspect of the present invention, a method of managing material supplied to an assembly process is provided. The assembly process produces a plurality of items and is divided into a plurality of stages. Each item is represented by an order. The material includes a part to be delivered by a supplier. The method includes the steps of establishing an event in the assembly process, generating a replenishment signal for the part, wherein the part is required at a later stage, and generating a replenishment signal in response to the demand.
In a fourth aspect of the present invention, a method of managing material supplied to an assembly process is provided. The assembly process produces a plurality of items and is divided into a plurality of stages. Each item is represented by an order, wherein the material includes a part to be delivered by a supplier. The method includes the steps of establishing an event in the assembly process and generating a replenishment signal for the part in response to occurrence of the event. The part is required at a later stage for a second order.
In a sixth aspect of the present invention, a method of managing material supplied to an assembly process is provided. The method includes the steps of dynamically determining a demand rate and an order point and generating a replenishment signal when an amount of the material in process is less than the order point.
In a seventh aspect of the present invention, a system for managing material supply is provided. The system includes an assembly area for receiving material and producing items using an assembly process and a computer system coupled to the assembly area. The system is adapted to supply material to the assembly area in response to actual demand.
In an eighth aspect of the present invention, a method of managing material supplied to an assembly process is provided. The method includes the steps of establishing an actual demand for the material, generating a replenishment signal in response to the actual demand, and requesting the material in response to the replenishment signal.
In a ninth aspect of the present invention, a method of managing material supplied to an assembly process is provided. The method includes the steps of establishing an actual demand for the material, generating a replenishment signal in response to the actual demand, and receiving the material in response to the replenishment signal.